I can’t make it in the door!” My friend’s heartbroken sobs on the phone wrenched my heart. “I tried so hard! I got dressed up and made it to the church parking lot. But I just can’t!” Her wailing intensified. “They won’t even sit near me.”
I comforted my devastated friend, assuring her that Jesus could meet with her outside the church doors this week. Then, sobered, I dressed for church myself.
“Church.” What does that word stir in your imagination?
For many, hearts warm with thoughts of sermons, potlucks, musical programs, soul-nourishing fellowship—a refuge in crisis.
For others, stomachs clench and tears burn. Agonizing thoughts of abuse, hypocrisy, judgmentalism, and rejection wash over them in painful waves. “Church” is fused with misrepresentation of God’s love.
Deconstruction?
“Deconstruction” is a term mushrooming into today’s mainstream media. It describes the avalanche of Christians rejecting organized religion, or even losing faith completely. Though some reach this point through skepticism or indifference, many trace their choice directly to church betrayal and harm.
As both an anti-abuse advocate and a pastor’s wife, I’ve seen much church ugliness. But after witnessing one especially horrifying abuse cover-up, I finally found myself physically unable to attend church. My heart pounded uncontrollably when I sat down in the sanctuary. The stress eventually forced me into the gastroenterologist’s office. Recognizing I needed deeper reasons to go to church, I started studying and journaling.
What began as a desperate attempt to cling to the church by my fingernails turned into a glorious months-long journey into the heart of God. I was able to “zoom out” to the bigger picture of what God is doing in His imperfect church. I discovered many reasons Jesus calls us to stay in the church, even when it’s hard. This article briefly summarizes what I found that helped me heal, recommit, and calmly step back inside the sanctuary, reassured of God’s comforting presence with me there.
Why Stay in an Imperfect Church?
1. God has called His people to tell the whole world about God’s love—and we can’t do it alone.
Loving God without loving others doesn’t fulfill God’s relational law (see Mark 12:30, 31). He calls us to leave our comfort zones, humbly working through differences where possible. But if I just invite friends to join me in worshipping peacefully in my own living room (Heb. 10:25), what then? My “movement” will still be severely limited by time, space, and my own weaknesses. We are “the body of Christ, and members individually” (1 Cor. 12:27; see also verses 12-31; 1 Cor. 13). In contrast with an increasingly lonely, individualistic culture in many parts of the world, God has given the end-time church a collective calling to show what love looks like in action—around the world. To effectively spread this profound gospel message around the world, believers must work in cooperation. This leads logically to the next point.
2. To take the gospel to the world, the church must be organized.
I firmly believe the Adventist Church holds the best systematic theological vision of God’s love of any church in existence. Developed over generations through extensive Bible study by deeply committed theologians, this message is expressed in 28 fundamental beliefs.
Church structure is a God-ordained tool to streamline sharing this well-rounded vision of God’s loving character with a hurting, searching world. But each of us is given only a few spiritual gifts to accomplish that mission! Church members should fit together like complementary pieces of a puzzle. Not everyone is cut out to sing, cook, preach, or pull together Pathfinder campouts and Vacation Bible School. And what about beyond the local church? Where would we be without schools, medical institutions, and a tithe distribution system that helps prevent much of the corruption prevalent in other denominations’ organizational approaches?
Jesus’ example was not that of a shallow peacekeeper, but of a true peacemaker.
The founders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church actively avoided organizing themselves at first, believing that structure itself would inevitably lead to abuse of power. But ultimately they realized that taking the gospel to the world necessitated organization. God wants to weave the body of believers into a seamless tapestry, a worldwide team for exponentially effective service. To achieve our global evangelistic mission of spreading Jesus’ love, writers, preachers, and artists must join hands with others gifted with technological, financial, educational, and linguistic talents.
The pioneers were right about the challenges of organization. God warned Israel against having a king, because any organizational framework that implies hierarchy tempts sinners to fuse power with pride. All sin springs from the seed of Satan’s “I will be like the Most High” (Isa. 14:14). From the first “you will be like God” temptation (Gen. 3:5), sinners have strategized to crown self on the throne. The Jews failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah because of their desire for supremacy; a second descent into the temptations of hierarchical thinking spiraled Christianity into the abuses of the church leadership structure of the Dark Ages. Unsurprisingly, Satan targets spiritual leaders with intense temptations to misrepresent God by how they use power.
Perhaps our best defense against sin is to continually behold the stunning contrast between how Satan and Jesus use power. “Satan has represented God as selfish and oppressive, as claiming all, and giving nothing.”1 But the “hierarchy” of the universe is a “low-rarchy.” Our King washes feet. The universe’s omnipotent King, wearing a crown of thorns, forever refuted Satan’s lie. He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant. . . . He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7, 8). Daily He pleads with us, “Let this mind be in you” (verse 5). Pride and selfishness melt before the blazing glory shining from Calvary.
Another potent antidote to the poison of hierarchical power hunger is remembering that the church is not merely an earthly organization. Jesus intentionally prefaced the Great Commission, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). This reminder to the new leaders of the fledgling Christian church shines as a beacon of hope on the end-time church, too. Jesus is the only head of His church.
Since no leader is perfect, leadership imperfections—and even outright corruption at times—will cripple the church’s gospel work. Leadership mistakes have stained the records of Noah, Abraham, David, Peter, and every other spiritual leader since Creation except Jesus. But as long as even a few Spirit-filled members—God’s 7,000—reject kingly power and wholeheartedly embrace humility, organization is more of a help than a hindrance.
Our worldwide structure exponentially catalyzes our ability to achieve our God-given goal of taking the gospel to the world. Ultimately, though, we need more than streamlined efforts. We can fulfill Matthew 28’s Great Commission only through the power of the Holy Spirit. And how do we receive that outpouring?
3. The disciples received Acts 2 Holy Spirit power only after they stopped playing toxic “who is the greatest” earthly power games, and instead came into “one accord” in Acts 1.
Only the cross can adequately confront carnal tendencies toward self-exaltation. Perhaps cataclysmic crisis is the only path to the purposeful unity demonstrated in the early rain. But even outside of crisis, we need the broken fellowship of other imperfect believers like ourselves.
God’s character is expressed in a relational law. We are called to image God, not as individuals each striving alone to achieve perfection, but as a multifaceted mosaic of missional community, bound together by self-sacrificing love. “When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.”2 Far from a vision of individualistic perfectionism, the context of this statement refers to the fruits of the Spirit being manifested in the body of Christ as we abandon self-exaltation to serve one another sacrificially.
Humble connection with a diverse body of believers also helps correct slides into extremism or theological error. It provides structure for weekly worship, utilizes a variety of talents, and offers consistent opportunities to develop the fruit of the Spirit. Even if some individuals could maintain perfect theological and relational balance alone, refusing to fellowship with other believers wouldn’t model a healthy path for their children—and others they win to Christ—to follow. Believers need community.
Need one more reason not to give up and strike out on our own? Let’s look to prophecy.
4. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3:5, KJV) describes God’s professed followers at the end of time.
Since the beginning God has called faulty believers to unite in telling the world about Him. The wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest, and “the harvest is the end of probationary time.”3 Revelation describes no magical off-ramp out of lukewarm Laodicea, the final church. Standing against evil in a tepid church will surely be a necessity at the end of time, as “the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12). But as theologian Diane Langberg states, “We are God’s dissidents. . . . We must never agree to ‘protect’ the name of God by covering ungodliness. In Ephesians 5:11, Paul warns us not to participate in the deeds of darkness but instead to expose them. Understand that you cannot singlehandedly change an entire system; you are not called to do so. Yet we are to speak truth about our systems. . . . People are sacred, created in the image of God. Systems are not. They are only worth the people in them and the people they serve. And people are to be treated, whether one or many, the way Jesus Christ treated people.”4 The prophets were stoned for a reason—needed rebuke is never warmly welcomed. Why should we expect resisting evil to become easier at the end of time?
Jesus’ example was not that of a shallow peacekeeper, but of a true peacemaker. He inflamed spiritual leaders with rage, even braiding a whip and turning over tables. The glory of God rises up against profound evil in the church. But rebuke is most effective from within. Jesus continued to fellowship with Jewish believers as He rose up against evil.
Peacemakers must beware: self-exaltation is a trap that springs both ways. Humility is our only defense against nauseating hypocrisy.Truth must be spoken in love, with salvation as the goal. We must show gentleness when reproving, knowing we might stand accountable in the judgment for well-meaning work that harms.
Why I’m staying in the Church
“It’s God’s church. I’m not leaving.” My brokenhearted friend from the beginning of this article often tells me this.
From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture repeats a sure promise: the glory of God will be revealed within His church. As Ellen White writes: “Although there are evils existing in the church, and will be until the end of the world, the church in these last days is to be the light of the world that is polluted and demoralized by sin. The church, enfeebled and defective, needing to be reproved, warned, and counseled, is the only object upon the earth upon which Christ bestows His supreme regard.”5 Further, she explains: “The church is God’s appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mission is to carry the gospel to the world. . . . Through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to ‘the principalities and powers in heavenly places,’ the final and full display of the love of God.”6
God’s true church is not merely an organization. It’s a movement of people spreading God’s love—together. Jesus is our head; the world is our mission field. His people must unify to fulfill Jesus’ prayer: “That they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me” (John 17:23).
1 Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1898, 1940), p. 57.
2 Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1900, 1941), p. 69.
3 Ibid.,p. 72.
4 Diane Langberg, Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2020), pp. 86, 87.
5 Ellen G. White, Counsels for the Church (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1991), p. 240.
6 Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1911), p. 9.